Update on Kiyemba case
on Sep 24, 2009 at 5:15 pm
The federal government has formally notified the Supreme Court of its plans to send some — but not all — of the Chinese Muslim Uighur detainees remaining at Guantanamo Bay to live on the Pacific island of Palau.  Solicitor General Elena Kagan, in a letter dated Wednesday and filed Thursday, said the government would continue negotiations to resettle all 13 of the Uighurs still at the U.S. Navy prison on the island of Cuba.
Because the impending transfers do not involve all 13, the developments would not appear to put the pending case of Kiyemba et al. v. Obama (08-1234) beyond the Court’s authority to hear it. The Justices have indicated they will consider the petition at their private Conference next Tuesday.
The letter said that the government of Palau has agreed to accept 12 of the 13. None of the Uighurs wants to return to their native China, because they are members of a long-persecuted Muslim minority there, and fear torture or worse if they are sent home — which the U.S. government has promised not to do.  The 13th detainee, although not mentioned by name in Kagan’s letter, is Arkin Mahmud, who has not been offered resettlement by any country. His situation may keep the case alive in the Court. His lawyers told the Court earlier this month: “There is no current expectation of his release from the Guantanamo prison.”
Until this past June, there were 17 Uighurs still at Guantanamo. None of them was considered any longer to be an “enemy combatant,” and thus all were technically eligible to depart from the Navy prison facility. Last October, a federal judge ordered their release to live in the U.S., finding that was the only option. That was blocked by the D.C. Circuit Court, in a ruling now under challenge in the Supreme Court case.
Of the 17 originally involved in the Supreme Court case, only four have left Guantanamo; they were sent to Bermuda on June 11.
Twelve of the other 13 at Guantanamo received in late August offers of resettlement to Palau. All 12 of those (along with Mahmud) are involved directly or indirectly in the pending Kiyemba petition (nine were among those who filed it in April, and three have said they want to be considered part of it).
The Solicitor General’s letter provided no names, but outlined this situation for the 12: The government notified Congress on Sept. 16 that eight of them will be transferred to Palau by Oct. 1 at the earliest, though only six of those have agreed to that transfer. Talks are ongoing with the other two.
“The U.,S. government,” Kagan wrote, “has every reason to believe that at least six of the petitioners shortly will be resettled in Palau, although it is impossible to be certain until they actually board the plane.” The plane’s departure date, she added, is classified.
As to those six, then, the case will be moot, the letter added, since they will have received the relief they sought — release from U.S. custody.  She closed the letter by saying that “the United States is working diligently to find an appropriate place to resettle the remaining Uighur detainees.” Presumably, that included Mahmud, although Kagan did not say so explicitly.
